City of Parenting
by LegionofShadowhunters
Summary: Collection of fluffy one-shots about the TMI characters with their kids. Post CoHF. Clace Malec Sizzy
1. Clace- Jon has the flu

**Summary: Clary and Jace take care of their son Jon while he has the flu.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own TMI/Shadowhunters.**

* * *

Clary would take temper tantrums and tripping over toys over listening to her son's pitiful coughs any day. She and Jace had handed over the institute to Alec for a couple of days while they took time off to take care of Jon. Alec had understood completely when they asked him to help out. With two little ones of his own, he knew that taking care of one while they were sick was an all hands on deck situation.

Jon sat in the middle of Jace and Clary's bed with a blanket covering his shoulders and the top of his head like a hood while Jace set up their T.V. with a movie for him to watch. He played halfheartedly with his stuffed bear. Clary couldn't help but think about how small her son looked as she laid behind him. He was only two but somehow the blanket made him seem even smaller.

She propped her head up on her hand and reached out and brushed her finger over one of his little hands. He sniffed and looked over at her. Blond curls poked out from under the blanket and his green eyes were wide and shiny. His skin was flush from the fever and his lips were stuck in a heartbreaking pout.

She missed her smiling giggling little boy that he had been a couple days before. "Are you sleepy?" He shook his head and crawled across the blankets to get closer to her. He settled down and leaned his back against her stomach and tried to readjust his blanket. Clary moved the soft fabric so it covered the leg of his batman pajamas.

She brushed a curl off his forehead and internally winced at the warmth of the skin. "Just still feel icky huh?" He nodded and clutched his bear closer. "I'm sorry, baby."

Jace had gotten a mundane children's show to play and adjusted the volume until it would be loud enough for them to hear it but quiet enough Jon could fall asleep easy if he needed to. He sat down on the end of the bed and leaned in so he could be face to face with their son. "Do you want Daddy to go get you some juice? It might make you feel better."

Jace looked as exhausted as Clary felt. There were dark shadows under his eyes and it was obvious he hadn't changed clothes in a while. Jon's cough and fever kept them all up. Jon had finally stopped crying a couple hours ago, resigned to the fact that he was sick and no matter how much he cried his parents weren't able to make it go away.

After a moment's deliberation Jon nodded. Jace stretched up and kissed his forehead. "I'll be right back."

"Jace," Clary said softly as Jace got up, "Can you call my mom and see if there's anything else we can try? Or ask Alec?"

Jace stretched his arms up over his head and yawned. "I can try but I doubt they've come up with a cure-all in the last four hours." He shuffled out of the room and shut the door quietly behind him.

Jon let out another round of pitiful coughs. He looked at Clary with watering eyes before he burst into tears again. Maybe he hadn't accepted the fact he was sick just yet. "Mommy," He cried and reached his hands out for her.

Clary sat up and felt her heart break as he continued to cry for her. "I'm right here, baby." She pulled him into her lap and pushed the blanket off his head. Sweat plastered his curls to the nape of his neck and the rest of his hair stuck up awkwardly. She kissed the top of his head and pulled him as close as she could. "Please don't cry," She pleaded.

One of his little hands clutched at the collar of her t-shirt while he leaned his head against her chest. "I know you feel icky, but you'll be all better in a couple days." She wasn't sure which one of them she was trying to convince, Jon or herself.

She rubbed soothing circles on his back. "How about after you drink your juice Mommy gives you a nice bath? Maybe you'll feel a little better in some clean PJ's." He sniffled against her shirt in response.

Jace came back a few minutes later with a little green sippy cup in hand. "Called Jocelyn and she said the best we could do now was wait it out," He climbed onto the bed next to Clary and held out the cup to their now quietly crying son. Jace frowned, a little line forming between his eyebrows. "Alec said the same thing. We've done all we can do."

He wrapped his arms around both of them and Clary felt herself lean her head against his shoulder without making the conscious decision to use him for support. "What's the point in being part of a magically world if we can't just magic this kind of thing away?" She whined.

"We protect the world from demons not the flu, Clary," Jace reminded her and kissed the top of her head.

"I saved the world once," She said and looked down at Jon as he took another sip of his juice. He wasn't crying anymore but there were still tears shining on his cheeks, "I should get to know how to protect one little boy from the flu."

The juice and the show on the screen had distracted Jon from his sickness enough to get him to stay calmed down. It wasn't long after that that he dozed off in Clary's lap. Jace helped Clary lay him down between them. Jace took his blanket and laid it over him and they laid back on either side of him.

"Finally," Jace sighed, "He sleeps."

Clary pressed a kiss to her little boy's forehead. He didn't stir at all. His eyes were shut and his pale eyelashes brushed his cheeks just barely. _Just a couple more days_ , she told herself, _And he'll be back to running around and causing trouble._


	2. Malec-1

**Summary: Max and Rafael get scared during a thunderstorm and spend the night in their dads' room.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own TMI/Shadowhunters or any of the characters.**

* * *

A particularly loud rumble of thunder woke Alec up much sooner than he would have liked. When he got home from patrol a couple hours ago he was on his twenty sixth—dangerously close to twenty-seventh—hour without sleep. Jace, Clary, and Alec had agreed to split Simon and Izzy's shifts for a few weeks while Simon was away recruiting and Izzy had gotten too pregnant to safely patrol.

As excited as he was for his sister and brother-in-law, Alec really missed sleep. He had fallen asleep on top of the covers, still mostly in gear. He didn't remember taking his boots and jacket off but they were in a pile by his side of the bed. He had one hand tucked under his pillow and the other arm was thrown lazily over Magnus's waist.

At first glance, his boyfriend seemed to have slept through the thunder, but Alec knew him well enough that he was simply denying being awake. "Three…two…one…," Magnus sighed the countdown as lightning flashed outside.

Within seconds Alec heard the faint sound of little footsteps running down the hall over the sound of the rain pouring outside. Their bedroom door creaked open and Alec lifted his head to see over Magnus even though he knew exactly what the two little heads sticking inside the door looked like.

Their two boys were peeking in. Rafael, the older of the two, had created a mask that Alec assumed was supposed to make him look calm but it only succeeded in managing to make him look more startled by the loud thunder. Max was openly whimpering, Alec could see in the dim light that he was clutching a stuffed cat to his chest.

"Daddy, Papa," Rafael spoke clearly and quietly into the room, "The storm woke us up and—," Another loud rumble of thunder cut him off and both boys ran into the room and climbed up on the bed without hesitation.

The two of them wiggled their way in between their fathers. Max curling up next to Alec and Rafael attaching himself to Magnus.

"Only a couple seconds off," Alec commented as Max started to pull the covers down to crawl under them.

Magnus met Alec's gaze and shrugged, "I was actually a little surprised it took them this long. I didn't think you would get woken up."

"Daddy," Alec looked down at his youngest son. Max had tucked his stuffed animal into the covered next to him, "Why aren't you in jammies? It's bedtime."

Alec smiled and kissed the dark hair on the top of Max's head. "I was _really_ sleepy when I got home, _so_ sleepy that I feel asleep with my clothes on. You wait here with Papa and Rafe while I go change." Max nodded and cuddled closer to his brother and Magnus.

Alec listened to Magnus mutter comforting comments to the boys while he grabbed a clean t-shirt and a pair of sweats. Alec remembered when they first adopted Max and Magnus would get flustered every time their son would make the slightest cry. Now Magnus didn't hesitate when Max scraped his knee or Rafael woke up from a nightmare.

He smiled as he stepped into the bathroom to change and wash himself up a little. There wasn't much of a point in taking a shower at three a.m. but a little soap and water took the dirt and dried blood of his arms.

Alec silently thanked the darkness for keeping Max or Rafael from noticing he had gotten hurt. An iratze had healed the scratch running up his forearm without a problem but he didn't like the boys to see any blood on him. Rafael had been with them a little over six months and it had just been recently that his nightmares had started to become less frequent.

Before Alec had found little Rafael, scared of the monsters and not understanding what he was seeing, he hadn't been quite so careful about covering up injuries. He had made sure to apply iratzes before entering the loft to heal any wounds and to cover up anything that would take longer than a few minutes to heal. Max was used to it. As far as their youngest son was concerned, it was totally normal for Alec to leave at odd hours and return a few hours later with his clothes torn and dirty.

He wanted to be careful about Rafael seeing him and getting frightened. He start zipping his gear jackets up all the way to minimize the view of any damage before coming into the loft. If he could, he slipped in quietly while the boys were playing or eating and cleaned himself up before they even knew he was home.

He shut the bathroom light off and walked quietly over to the bed. The boys hadn't fallen asleep yet but Magnus was working on it. "Okay, now the next time you see lightning count _really_ slowly," Magnus instructed softly.

Another lightning strike lit up the sky above New York as Alec slipped under the covers. Max and Rafael began counting in soft voices, "One…two…three…four…" Thunder rumbled and the both stopped.

"Papa," Rafael sounded more nervous than before. Alec was a little worried that whatever Magnus had planned was backfiring, "It got closer."

Alec moved over so he could wrap his arm around both boys. "Daddy," Max whined and squirmed so he could lay on his back, "You're squishing Whiskers."

Max tugged on the tail of the toy Alec had laid on by accident. Alec pulled the toy out from underneath him and set it one Max's stomach. "My sincerest apologies, Whiskers," Alec said in an exaggerated polite voice. Max giggled and hugged the toy closer to his chest.

Alec laid his head down on the pillow next to his son's and listened to Magnus explain that the sooner the storm got here the sooner it would be gone to Rafael. "Pretty soon when you see lightning and start counting you'll be able to get to a higher number before the thunder rumbles. That will mean the storm is going away," he said softly.

"I bet if you go to sleep now the storm will be completely gone in the morning," Alec knew it wouldn't work but he was too tired to think of a more clever way to get them to go to sleep.

"But, Daddy, it's loud," Rafael whined.

Alec gently brushed Rafael's hair off his face. "I know, Rafe. But you need sleep."

"See, your brother already fell asleep," Magnus pointed out. "If the thunder wakes you up again, we'll be right here."

Alec hadn't even noticed that Max had fallen asleep but the little boy's eyes were closed. He remembered his little brother Max falling asleep on the chairs in the library years ago and felt a mixture of pain and affection in his chest.

Even though neither one of their sons shared any blood relation to his brother, there were times when Alec felt himself finding similarities in how they acted. The way Max could fall asleep in the strangest of places in the strangest of positions—whenever Alec went to wake him up in the mornings his head was usually at the wrong end of the bed. Or the way Rafael always insisted on at least three bed time stories, sometimes the same story read twice in a row. Alec knew they were things every kid probably did but it was comforting to see the boys acting in ways that were so familiar to him.

"Daddy," Rafael's quiet voice brought him out of his thoughts, "You look sad."

Alec's eyes flickered briefly to Magnus who looked just as concerned as their son. "I'm fine, buddy. I'm just very sleepy." Rafael seemed to accept that answer and buried his face into the edge of Magnus's pillow. Magnus didn't seem as convinced. "Honestly, I'm just tired," He promised Magnus. It wasn't a lie, he was fine. He had Magnus and the boys, things he never thought he'd get to have. He knew his brother wouldn't begrudge him this kind of happiness.

Magnus's cat eyes searched his face for a long moment before he said, "Get some sleep Alexander," He closed his eyes and sighed, "I told Tessa and Jem I'd meet them for lunch while they were in the city which means you need to be fully awake to handle these two on your own."


	3. Sizzy-1

**Author's Note: Apparently I'm really bad at writing Sizzy so these might be few and far between. Also I don't really know anything about Star Wars but I gave their kid a name that could be shortened to "Rey" as a nickname.**

 **If you guys have any requests for a specific prompt for a ship you can add it in the reviews or PM me.**

 **Summary: Simon struggles to get his newborn daughter to fall asleep.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own TMI/Shadowhunters.**

* * *

Simon was pretty sure their newborn somehow knew exactly when he and Izzy were falling asleep. The second their attention turned to the inside of their eyelids, she would start crying. It was the fourth time tonight.

Simon sat up and adjusted his shirt. He blinked the sleep away and reached over to shake his wife's shoulder. "Don't you dare," Izzy mumbled into her pillow, "I just fed her twenty minutes ago, it's your turn."

The cries seemed to get louder once he realized he would be facing them on his own. He had thought his shadowhunter training had been hard, now that he had been a dad for about five days—maybe it had only been four, he couldn't remember—he missed the academy.

He could see Reagan trying to squirm out of her blanket in her crib on the other side of the room. "I'm coming Rey," He sighed, "Please don't cry."

Reagan's little pink face was squished up as she cried. The fine dark hair on the top of her head was sticking up in places. Simon reached down and slid his hands under her. He wondered how long it would be until he stopped feeling nervous about holding her.

He remembered holding his nephew Max when Alec and Magnus had first adopted him. Max had only been a little more than a month old but he had seemed a lot less fragile.

He pulled Reagan close to his chest and tried to contain his fear that he would drop her. "See? Daddy's here." Simon sat down on the edge of the bed near Izzy's feet. Reagan wasn't crying quite as loudly as before instead she had started with her weird mixture of whimpering and whining that she liked to do. It frustrated Simon to no end. He was able to stop her from outright screaming but his chest always ached hearing her softer cry. Simon felt like he was missing something when she cried like that, like there was something small upsetting her but he just _couldn't figure out how to fix it._

"Can we call Alec again? Do you think he's still up?" Simon asked Izzy, who seemed to have fallen asleep despite the noise. "At least someone gets to sleep, since you seem intent on keeping me awake."

Simon stared at his daughter helplessly and she stared right back up at him with Isabelle's brown eyes. He stood back up slowly and tried the rocking thing Alec had recommended when they called him earlier. "Your Uncle Alec says this is supposed to work," He whispered to her, "I think he's lying. I think he might like to mess with me because I used to get nervous when he asked us to babysit your cousins."

Reagan's whimpering had started to get quieter, a fact Simon was counting as a win. "I guess I could call your Aunt Clary and Uncle Jace, but I know for a fact that your Uncle Jace would try to mess with me."

Simon watched as Reagan's eyelids started to get heavy. "We don't need them anyway. Do we Rey?"

The closer Reagan got to falling asleep the more Simon was aware just how quiet it was. The silence was a little unsettling after however many days of constant crying. He found the little noises she made as she slept were a lot more endearing than her cries.

"Why is it quiet? Is she asleep?" Isabelle had sat up slightly in bed.

Simon smiled proudly at her. "Yeah, Alec's rocking thing works." He looked back down at their daughter's sleeping face. Reagan shifted her legs slightly in the blanket. For once Simon was confident he wasn't going to drop her.

Izzy let out a quiet laugh. "Or she could be as exhausted as we are," She whispered, "Come on, she's asleep. Come to bed."

"I can't."

Isabelle sat up more in bed, letting the comforter fall around her waist. "Simon, you need to sleep. We're not going to get too many opportunities like this."

"Izzy," Simon said softly, "The second I set her down she's _going_ to wake up."

Isabelle climbed out of bed and tip toed over to them. She pecked Simon on the cheek and gently took Reagan from Simon's arms. Izzy made a soft shushing sound as she made her way towards the crib. "She's too sleepy to notice," She said in a baby voice. She set Reagan gently back down into the crib.

Simon watched as his wife lingered by the crib for a moment. Isabelle turned around slowly and wrapped her arms around Simon's waist. She rested her head against his chest. "She's a lot cuter when she's not screaming," He commented as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Imagine how cute she'll be when she sleeps through the night," Isabelle said, "Speaking of sleep, let's get some before she wakes up again."


	4. Lucelyn- The day Clary was born

**Author's Note: Here's a little Luke and Jocelyn stuff. It's 1am so I didn't go back and read through it after I finished so I am sorry for any typos or grammar errors.**

* * *

It was around three o'clock in the morning when Jocelyn shook Luke awake. He had barely been asleep for half an hour. He knew he had promised to be there for Jocelyn no matter what she needed, but he had made that promise when he had more than a couple hours of sleep in the last day and a half. In his current state he wasn't really suitable for supporting anyone let alone keep his own eyelids open.

He rolled over onto his back, groaning his objections to the wakeup call. "Luke, we have to go now," The urgency in Jocelyn's voice set alarms of in his head. It was the same thing she had said to him the day they fled Idris. He didn't smell smoke so hopefully that meant the apartment was burning, but there were too many other things they were worried about catching up with them for him to find any security in that thought.

"Wha—What's going on?" Luke sat up on the mattress and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Jocelyn stood beside the bed with her jacket on and a bag in hand. She hadn't turned any lights on so everything was in the shadows except for the small strip of the room that the windows were letting light into. "Is someone here?" Meaning did Valentine find us? Is it time to run again?

"No, but this— Oh by the angel," Jocelyn exclaimed in pain and doubled over as much as she could with her pregnant belly in the way.

"Jocelyn?" Luke reached for the bag and Jocelyn's free hand. She held onto it with a firm grip, hard enough it hurt the bones. "What's going on?"

"Baby," She ground out through gritted teeth, "Coming. Now."

If he wasn't awake he sure as hell was now. "Oh! Oh!" he jumped off the bed, careful not to jostle Jocelyn in his movements. "Okay, you've got your bag. Um, I'll call the doctor and uh, we'll get you to the hospital okay? You just—uh-keep it in I guess?" Even though many of Luke's friends had babies before he left Idris he didn't really know what to expect with the whole labor situation. It was a lot more terrifying than he had ever imagined.

She let go of his hand as the contraction passed and let out a relieved sigh. "Yeah, I'll try my best on that one," Jocelyn's sarcastic bite probably would have made him laugh at any other time, but right now there was a baby coming and it was dark and he didn't know where he put the phone. He was just blindly searching the dark room.

Jocelyn flipped on the lamp they kept by their bedside. "Thank you!" Luke rubbed at the spots dancing in front of his eyes at the new light hitting them. He was able to find the phone on the small bit of counter their barely existent kitchen had. He kept a sticky note on the refrigerator with all the important numbers. The doctor, the landlord, the three digit mundie emergency line, the Jade Wolf where Luke went during full moons and worked at as a dishwasher on the weekends.

He dialed the doctor's number and told him that the baby was on its way. Dr. Albright said that he would meet them at the hospital as soon as possible. Luke hung up and grabbed his keys of the hook. He ushered Jocelyn towards the door. "Okay, we got mommy and baby, your bag, the keys, we're good to go."

Luke moved to open the door but Jocelyn's hand shot out to keep it shut. "Lucian," She said gently, "I think you're forgetting something." Luke looked down at her in confusion. He was pretty sure that's all they needed. Jocelyn glanced down slowly and back at him. Luke looked down too. He was still just in his boxers and an I heart NY t-shirt.

"Right," He moved away from the door quickly, "Pants are also necessary." He pulled on a pair of jeans he had left in the bathroom and jogged back to Jocelyn. "Okay let—"

"Shoes, Luke." A small smile played on Jocelyn's lips.

"I'm really tired," He said in his own defense. He slipped his boots on without tying them. "Good now?"

"Yes, let's go I can feel another contraction coming."

-o.0.o-

Luke held her hand in the backseat of the taxi the whole way to the hospital. He was fairly confident he would need an x-ray himself when they arrived. Between her pain and shadowhunter strength Jocelyn had quite the grip.

He tossed what cash he had at the cabdriver and helped Jocelyn out of the back seat as quickly as they could manage. Within seconds of making their way through the automatic doors, something Luke was still getting used to, the two nurses working the front desk hopped into action.

"Uh, Shelia I got this one," A dark skinned young woman in pale pink scrubs hopped up out of her chair. She pushed a wheelchair out from behind the counter. "Here you go, honey." She held it in place while Jocelyn climbed in.

In a low voice and without looking up from the brake she was unlocking, the nurse asked, "How long have the two of you been in New York?" The woman spoke like she knew them.

Jocelyn tensed in the wheelchair. Luke felt sick almost instantly. "I don't know what you're talking about," He lied.

"Even if you had bother trying to cover her runes you still wouldn't be hiding that hair," The nurse touched Luke's bare forearm gently. He looked down, startled. Her skin turned slowly from a shade of brown a couple shades darker than his own to a shade of blue. As quickly as it had turned blue her skin shifted back to brown. Warlock.

"Who are you?" Jocelyn's eyes were blown wide as she whispered the question. "What do you want from us?"

Back to full volume the nurse responded, "My name is Catarina and I'm going to help make you as comfortable as possible until your doctor arrives to deliver your baby. I know the contractions can be a little distracting, but some paperwork does need to be filled out." She pulled away from Luke and pushed Jocelyn towards he desk. "Are you the father?" She asked as she grabbed a clipboard the other nurse had prepared while they had their little talk.

"Uh no?" So many things had just happened—were happening—that Luke wasn't sure what was happening anymore.

"Are the two of you married?" Luke shook his head. "Know enough about her that you could fill this out while she eats some ice chips?" He nodded. She held out the clipboard and gave him a look. A lot was said in that look and it frightened him.

That look said "I know who you are and I know very well who this woman's husband is and who this baby's father is." As terrifying as that was there was still something there that made Luke positive this woman was to be trusted.

"Unfortunately, you won't be allowed in the delivery room, but I will make sure to give you updates as often as you ask for them," Catarina told him. She turned to speak to the nurse. "When the doctor gets him let him know Jocelyn is with me in room 203."

"Wait," Luke was completely dumbfounded. "You're going to make her go in there alone? I'm her best friend. She needs me."

"I'm sorry, but it's hospital policy. If you are not her husband, the baby's father, or a blood relative of one of the parents you are not allowed in the delivery room." She looked genuinely apologetic. "I'm so sorry, Lucian." She added again in a whisper.

Hearing that name coming from someone who wasn't Jocelyn sent shivers down his spine. He wasn't Lucian Graymark anymore, he couldn't be. "Luke," He corrected almost silently. He bent down and pressed a kiss to Jocelyn's forehead. "You've gone up against much scarier things." He whispered to her. He laid his hand on her stomach and let his thumb rub back and forth. "See you in a little while, Kid. Don't keep me waiting too long."

-o.0.o-

She kept him waiting. He had at least five cups of crappy hospital coffee and dozed off twice in one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. They were closing in on noon when Catarina came out to give him the good news.

He had to try his best not to run ahead of her while she was leading him to the recovery room. "And they're both healthy? There weren't any complications or anything?"

"It was a smooth delivery. When I left they were finishing cleaning Clarissa up so they could get her back to Jocelyn," Catarina reported happily. Her tone turned serious as she directed Luke to turn into a new hallway. "Have you had anyone put protections up on the place you're living?"

Luke lowered his voice, "Jocelyn has put up some protection runes, but other than that we don't have anything."

Catarina paused outside of one of the rooms. She tucked her hand into the pocket of her scrubs. "He'll be waiting for your call. He usually doesn't help shadowhunters but Tessa's in town. She'll convince him to help Jocelyn." She handed him a scrap piece of paper with a phone number scrawled across it in.

"Who?" Luke tucked the paper into his pocket anyway.

"Magnus Bane. He'll put up some stronger protections. Now, do you want to see the two most important women in your life or no?" Luke didn't even get to express his impatience before Catarina opened up the door to let him in.

He nearly ran to Jocelyn's bedside. The first thing he noticed was Jocelyn. Sweat made her skin look shiny and her hair had been tied back into a pony tail. Fly-a-ways stuck out all around her head. She looked like she did after a mission except less demon blood and dirt on her clothes. And with the wide smile plastered across her face while she spoke softly to the bundle of blankets in her arms, Luke thought she looked absolutely gorgeous.

Jocelyn looked up as Luke approached. "Hey, you look awful," She greeted happily. The bundle of pink blankets wiggled slightly and made a disgruntled noise.

"Waiting rooms aren't great for sleeping," He bent down and kissed her forehead. Luke's eyes dropped to the baby resting in Jocelyn's arms. His attention was immediately caught by the pair of familiar green eyes staring up at him curiously. "Hi," He said softly and waved his fingers at her. "It's nice to finally meet you. You're just as beautiful as your mother."

Clarissa looked back up at Jocelyn, unimpressed with what Luke had to offer. Jocelyn shifted slightly so she could rock her a little. "She is a pretty little thing isn't she?" Jocelyn sounded happier and more relaxed than she had in the last two years. "I'm not just biased?"

Luke sat down on the edge of the bed and slide his arm around Jocelyn's shoulders. "In all fairness, I don't think I'm exactly unbiased either." Clarissa had closed her eyes as Jocelyn muttered soothing words to her.

It was a long stretch of time before either one of them spoke again. "She's got my eyes," Jocelyn kept her voice low but Luke could hear the raw emotion bursting out of the short sentence. She took a deep shaking breath, and he leaned down to see if she was okay. Tears streaked her cheeks but the same goofy smile was on her face. "My baby girl has my eyes," She repeated, this time a little louder but her voice cracked halfway through.

Luke wasn't quite sure how to respond. He felt like he was missing something important. As much as he didn't want to think it, maybe it had something to do with the fact Clarissa not being his daughter. Maybe it was because he wasn't the biological parent. Maybe that kind of thing was a really big deal when a couple had a baby. Jocelyn got complimented on her eyes nearly as often as she got complimented on her hair. Maybe it was something she really wanted to pass down.

He played it safe with a "That was the first thing I noticed," He kissed the top of her head again.

Jocelyn started shaking her head. For a moment Luke was afraid he had done something wrong before Jocelyn spoke. "His eyes were black." Jocelyn had refrained from mentioning Jonathan since they got to America. She had a small box of his things that she seemed to cry over nightly. It hadn't been until recently that she put the box in a drawer and it stayed there most nights. "He was so clearly Valentine's, but he's not getting this one. Clary is ours, and we are going to love this little girl with everything we have. And I am going to protect her no matter what the cost." She had the same amount of certainty in her words as she did when she was shouting orders in battle. "I wasn't able to protect him, but I am going to protect her."

Luke rubbed her back soothingly. "Jocelyn, there wasn't anything you could have done," He had seen the fire that had killed her family. The manor had been swallowed by flame in minutes. Jocelyn was lucky to have gotten out with what she had.

"That's what I've been telling myself for the last three years," Jocelyn said more to herself than Luke. The fire had been less than a year ago, but this didn't seem like the time to point that out.

"Why don't I put Clarissa into her little crib and you can get some sleep? Both of you had a very long morning." Luke didn't have a ton of experience with holding babies but he didn't really have much choice. He was about to help raise one after all. Jocelyn helped him make the transition into his arms as easy as possible.

He held his breath while he waited to see if they accidentally woke up the baby. He froze in a semi-awkward position when her little mouth opened slightly. "Okay, I got this," He told himself as he carried her to the nearby crib the hospital placed in the room.

He glanced over to see Jocelyn making herself more comfortable so she could sleep. Luke lowered Clarissa into the crib as slowly as he could. He leaned down so he could kiss the top of her head like he had with Jocelyn. "Don't tell your mom I used this kind of language," he whispered to the baby, "But your mom is one hell of a woman. One day you're going to be as strong, and brave as she is, and I can't wait to see the person you become."


End file.
